Hello everyone,
I'm a total Linux newbie, just built my first computer which is also my first Linux box. Before building, I had tried out several Linux distros from Live CDs on my old Dell desktop (which is now my wife's computer) and settled on Ubuntu -- in particular, I really like the Ubuntu philosophy and the extensive minority language support. So I built my computer, and to my chagrin, I tried to install Ubuntu for 3 days and gave up. The Live CD wouldn't even boot, the alt-install CD installed but with all sorts of errors and display issues, and eventually I just said forget it and tried some other distros until I found one (Mandriva) which actually both booted from the Live CD and installed without any errors. I discovered during all this that I actually really like the K desktop and prefer some of the KDE applications (e.g. K3B, Amarok) over their Gnome equivalents. And while Mandriva is working so far, still in the back of my mind I'm a bit frustrated that I'm not using Ubuntu; I prefer Synaptic and the Debian package system to Mandriva's RPMs, and as I said before, I really like Ubuntu's language support and general philosophy. So it seems to me like Kubuntu would be the best of both worlds for me.
So I thought I'd try it out and burned a Live CD of Kubuntu 7.10. When I just choose "Start or Install Kubuntu", it loads -- I get the Kubuntu logo and the blue bar fills up -- but when it finishes loading, instead of going into the desktop, all I get is a command line prompt "ubuntu@ubuntu:~$", and then I don't know what to do. I can't get it to do anything from there. I tried rebooting the live CD and selecting "Start in Safe Graphics Mode"; this time it loaded and did continue into the desktop but I had no internet connection (this computer is upstairs and only has a wireless connection via a USB network adapter; the modem and router are downstairs, connected to another computer). Kubuntu didn't even recognize that the wireless adapter existed on my computer; the only recognized connection was the onboard LAN, which of course was not connected since the DSL modem is on a different floor. So I'm nervous about trying an actual install lest I lose all internet connection.
So, what this all boils down to: Can I get Kubuntu to load normally from the Live CD without having to go into safe graphics mode? Is there any way to establish a wireless internet connection from the Live CD, or at least to be sure that I'll have one once I install so that I'm not stuck unable to update my system, etc.? Can I do all this on Kubuntu 7.10, or should I hold out for 8.04 and see if that works any better?
Thanks to anyone who can advise.
I'm a total Linux newbie, just built my first computer which is also my first Linux box. Before building, I had tried out several Linux distros from Live CDs on my old Dell desktop (which is now my wife's computer) and settled on Ubuntu -- in particular, I really like the Ubuntu philosophy and the extensive minority language support. So I built my computer, and to my chagrin, I tried to install Ubuntu for 3 days and gave up. The Live CD wouldn't even boot, the alt-install CD installed but with all sorts of errors and display issues, and eventually I just said forget it and tried some other distros until I found one (Mandriva) which actually both booted from the Live CD and installed without any errors. I discovered during all this that I actually really like the K desktop and prefer some of the KDE applications (e.g. K3B, Amarok) over their Gnome equivalents. And while Mandriva is working so far, still in the back of my mind I'm a bit frustrated that I'm not using Ubuntu; I prefer Synaptic and the Debian package system to Mandriva's RPMs, and as I said before, I really like Ubuntu's language support and general philosophy. So it seems to me like Kubuntu would be the best of both worlds for me.
So I thought I'd try it out and burned a Live CD of Kubuntu 7.10. When I just choose "Start or Install Kubuntu", it loads -- I get the Kubuntu logo and the blue bar fills up -- but when it finishes loading, instead of going into the desktop, all I get is a command line prompt "ubuntu@ubuntu:~$", and then I don't know what to do. I can't get it to do anything from there. I tried rebooting the live CD and selecting "Start in Safe Graphics Mode"; this time it loaded and did continue into the desktop but I had no internet connection (this computer is upstairs and only has a wireless connection via a USB network adapter; the modem and router are downstairs, connected to another computer). Kubuntu didn't even recognize that the wireless adapter existed on my computer; the only recognized connection was the onboard LAN, which of course was not connected since the DSL modem is on a different floor. So I'm nervous about trying an actual install lest I lose all internet connection.
So, what this all boils down to: Can I get Kubuntu to load normally from the Live CD without having to go into safe graphics mode? Is there any way to establish a wireless internet connection from the Live CD, or at least to be sure that I'll have one once I install so that I'm not stuck unable to update my system, etc.? Can I do all this on Kubuntu 7.10, or should I hold out for 8.04 and see if that works any better?
Thanks to anyone who can advise.
.) My wireless adapter is a Linksys Wireless-G model # WUSB54G. I had it lying around so I wanted to see if I could get it to work before I went out and bought something else. I assume Mandriva must come with ndiswrapper as it asked me for the CD with the Windows driver during install, I popped the CD in the drive, and it was off and running; Kubuntu, however, doesn't seem to see it, at least from the live CD. I was wondering if perhaps I should try setting up a dual boot with Mandriva and Kubuntu, that way if I can't get the Kubuntu working, I could still have the Mandriva without having to reinstall it. But that would involve repartitioning the hard drive, and I'm not really sure how to do that! Of course, it's all a learning experience, right? I built the computer in the first place to get the experience of building a computer, so I suppose messing it all up and reinstalling OS after OS is part of the process... 
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